10 things medical spas won’t tell you

Relaxation and legitimate healing — combined?

1.“We’re all over the place.”

The number of medical spas — hybrids of medical clinics and day spas — in the U.S. is up more than fourfold since 2007, from around 800 in 2007 to 4,500 today, according to the International Medical Spa Association. Why? For one, technology continues to improve, allowing for better results from less invasive cosmetic procedures. What’s more, older people remaining in the workforce sometimes want to look younger than their years, but don’t want to take weeks off their job to recover from a face-lift, says Dr. Timothy C. Flynn, president of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery Association. So they’re turning to medical spas to smooth their wrinkles and erase their age spots.

There’s another factor behind med spas’ rise. Soaring health-care costs have caused insurers to reduce the rates at which they reimburse doctors for services rendered to patients. As doctors’ revenue at their regular practices gets squeezed, some physicians are signing on with medical spas to try to make up the difference in their top lines, says Dr. Roy Kim, a plastic surgeon in San Francisco who isn't affiliated with a medical spa.

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